Regarding negative interrogatives in American English as argumentative structures *
5. Cultural models of AGE
as we are primarily interested in seeing whether corpus data and methodology are applicable in the study of cultural models, but it should be mentioned that a contrastive study which takes into account uses of the [too ADJ to V]-construction is different varieties of English, or which compares [too ADJ to V] to a similar construction in a different language, would enable us to more precisely evaluate the culture-specificity of the underlying cognitive models in question. In the present paper, we are primarily interested in seeing to which extent such models emerge from resulting findings of a covarying collexeme analysis. Among the next 'natural steps' in a more fully fledged investigation of the interaction between the construction and cultural models would be systematic contrastive studies.
Table 3: V-lexemes coattracted to young
Rank V-lexeme Coll.strength Rank V-lexeme Coll.strength Rank V-lexeme Coll.strength
5 remember 531.6167089334 6400 smell 3.3780512831 8226 handle 1.076894277
7 understand 382.3674309302 6401 visualize 3.3780512831 8229 notice 1.0736879882
12 know 236.347857746 6467 question 3.2651856734 8330 serve 0.944795401
34 die 104.0823720638 6551 enter 3.1738895519 8333 hear 0.9415811643
91 vote 49.9399053694 6627 grasp 3.0536859828 8357 choose 0.9063051699
127 recall 38.8795405744 6733 obtain 2.8912259292 8358 earn 0.9063051699
192 retire 29.9369724328 7031 decide 2.5675918774 8365 control 0.8900141523
251 appreciate 23.4409880659 7032 settle 2.5675918774 8549 apologize 0.7190854436
268 drive 22.6840945836 7068 enjoy 2.5628742408 8578 play 0.6887799849
339 realize 20.5029210874 7150 boast 2.4310032725 8655 follow 0.5827118171
350 enlist 19.9882055431 7151 converse 2.4310032725 8675 benefit 0.5679099221
434 hate 18.7786295508 7152 plead 2.4310032725 8676 sign 0.5679099221
445 consent 18.1596215648 7153 preach 2.4310032725 8677 study 0.5679099221
505 drink 17.6524544154 7154 ruin 2.4310032725 8707 walk 0.5404874164
538 get 17.1345523011 7155 secure 2.4310032725 8778 worry 0.4668891661
1464 feel 12.0131239135 7156 smoke 2.4310032725 8793 bury 0.4447130294
1584 comprehend 11.6175325598 7277 evaluate 2.2845753382 8794 indulge 0.4447130294
2036 marry 10.2936192564 7574 exhibit 1.8508606252 8795 quit 0.4447130294
2065 learn 10.2346036097 7575 hike 1.8508606252 8911 engage 0.3438684324
2528 fight 9.3820419832 7576 resent 1.8508606252 9061 consider 0.2175255239
2969 socialize 8.3846589982 7613 dance 1.8135782788 9077 commit 0.1939347117
3097 shave 8.0708526927 7614 receive 1.8135782788 9078 lose 0.19211283
3858 participate 6.9558086716 7615 rule 1.8135782788 9079 win 0.19211283
3974 dial 6.7579123918 7862 go 1.5115509712 9085 travel 0.1865073433
3975 rent 6.7579123918 7913 deserve 1.4449762703 9115 write 0.1582728209
4397 own 6.06271523 7914 like 1.4449762703 9147 begin 0.132706061
4407 baby-sit 6.0511969511 7915 pin 1.4449762703 9212 set 0.095974358
4408 dominate 6.0511969511 7916 process 1.4449762703 9266 claim 0.062058303
4409 lean 6.0511969511 7917 row 1.4449762703 9282 recognize 0.0531247572
4410 meddle 6.0511969511 7918 shape 1.4449762703 9314 listen 0.0366551811
4411 mind 6.0511969511 7919 shoulder 1.4449762703 9315 apply 0.0364982453
4412 re-create 6.0511969511 7920 smile 1.4449762703 9316 dig 0.0364982453
4413 recollect 6.0511969511 7921 wield 1.4449762703 9368 run 0.0185509689
4781 qualify 5.452383851 7926 absorb 1.4390017639 9401 use 0.0097772519
5112 join 5.0493701814 7927 visit 1.4390017639 9420 account 0.0066735003
5259 reproduce 4.8636271275 8027 work 1.3135004073 9421 cross 0.0066735003
6058 care 3.8036674188 8041 read 1.304006599 9422 shoot 0.0066735003
6131 testify 3.7031630195 8088 attend 1.2281816852 9423 compete 0.0061908425
6397 contend 3.3780512831 8160 chew 1.1417299471 9456 need 0.0008988344
6398 separate 3.3780512831 8161 haul 1.1417299471 9466 leave 0.0004815191
6399 shine 3.3780512831 8182 face 1.1273804603
Consider the following examples of the [too young to VCOGNITIVE]-instantiation of the construction:
(12) a. At her feet, her 6-year-old daughter, Janelle, and 4-year-old son, James, chased each other in a game of tag. Alexis gazed fondly at them. They are still too young to know exactly what Mommy did for a living, she said – and she wants to keep it that way. (COCA 2011 MAG SanFranChron)
b. Asked why the youths had been acquitted of attempted murder despite the jogger's near fatal injuries on the night of April 19, 1989, one juror, Charles Nestorick, said: "it was a very, very painful decision." "It was very dark in the park and we believed that they didn't realize how much damage they were doing," he said. "They were too young to know."
Another juror, Rafael Mirandez, said, "They had knives and didn't use them." A third, Ronald Gold, said he had resisted convicting Mr. McCray of rape until yesterday. He changed his mind, he said, after watching the youth's videotaped confession played one last time. (COCA 1990 NEWS NYTimes)
c. At 14, Jamie Fleming should be too young to know about guns or any of the specific details of violence and perversity that fill his mind – and, he says, his memory. (COCA 1993 SPOK CBS_EyeToEye)
(13) a. The hardest part of the process for Leake was the resistance she faced from a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old who were too young to understand why Froot Loops were suddenly forbidden (COCA 2011 MAG Prevention)
b. "My compliments to the host," I said, hoping she wasn't too young to understand irony.But she shoved the bottle back to me, her mask swiveling to the left. "I can't take that,"she said, her voice carrying more than a trace of alarm. "Someone might think you're trying to bribe me." (COCA 2005 FIC Analog)
c. "They can do things as a team sometimes, but sometimes they can't. I am very, verydisappointed in them. Know how many games I've lost when I've had a double-digit lead like that one." "Three," is the guess. "Two," he declares. "Just two. I was 49-1 until Sunday. And lemme' tell you something else: I'm getting too old to lose. These guys I got here, a lot of 'em are too young to understand what I mean. All I want to do is get my team to perform up to how I think they're capable of performing. I don't care what anyone else thinks. OK? It's what I think." (COCA 1998 NEWS Chicago)
(14) a. Of course the juvenile justice system does occasionally deal with children too young to appreciate the moral dimensions or real-world consequences of their behavior... (COCA 1998 ACAD CATOJournal)
b. "I don't think children are too young to appreciate what that sunken ship represents," he told me. (COCA 1991 MAG Smithsonian)
(15) a. AT FIFTEEN, BILL JOHNSON was really too young to comprehend the danger of frostbite. (COCA 1997 MAG FieldStream)
b. At ten, I was much too young to comprehend the significance of anything my grandfather said, but I liked to hear him talk. (COCA 1994 FIC AfricanAmericanReview)
(16) Everything happens for God’s good reason is the cliché my mother has drilled in my head since I was old enough to ask "Why?" – too young to question why she really didn’t seem to believe this was true regarding her and my father. (COCA 2010 FIC Bk:PowderNecklace)
(17) And he wasn't lying when he said he wasn't afraid, even for a thousandth of a second, that his father wouldn't hit the apple. It was later on, when he grew up, that he began to think back and ask the questions his son now asked him. At the time of the heroic deed he was too young to grasp the real danger implicit in that challenge, but his father was no child. How could he have imperiled his son's life without shaking at all? (COCA 2011 FIC MassachRev)
(18) He gave Marcado peppermints, rubber balls, and dolls with eyelashes, his dark sad eyes searching her face in a way she was too young to evaluate, while Elsine colored black hearts and sucked on stones. (COCA 2003 FIC FantasySciFi)
The examples above show that the force-dynamic relation of YOUNGAGE BLOCKING INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY is applied in a myriad of different ways, depending on the co-text and the concepts activated in the current discourse space.11 Thus, the [too young to VCOGNITIVE]-instantiation of [too ADJ to V] enters into mutually specificational relationships with other elements in the texts, such that young is specified by the co-text (or by implicatures generated by the co-text), and a force-dynamic relation of BLOCKAGE is set up between young and the proposition expressed by the infinitive clause.
Given that canonical discourse involves thematic coherence, we can assume that there is semantic coherence throughout the entire stretch of discourse that relates to the instance of [too young to VCOGNITIVE] in question, such that the surrounding discursive context draws on and, possibly, elaborates on the cultural model associated with the construction, as well as any other conceptual content evoked throughout the discourse. For example, a formulation like *At 51, he was too young to understand what his mother did for a living would be semantically odd, while At 51, he was too young to understand the problems that senior citizens face daily would be semantically acceptable.
Our analysis could be expanded by looking at coattraction patterns with other ADJ-lexemes.
We will restrict ourselves to the most obvious candidate – namely, old. Table 4 on page 142 lists the fifty lexemes that are the most strongly coattracted to old in the construction. Several of the V-lexemes on the list seem to reflect relations in which a high degree of OLDNESS blocks the situation predicated by the V-lexeme. For instance too old to enjoy indicates that there are degrees on the scale of OLDNESS that prevent the described individual from enjoying certain situations. Of course, exactly what type of situation this is applied to is specified in the actual usage-event. In the instances of too old to enjoy found in COCA, the OBJECTOF ENJOYMENT ranges from money over a bottle of wine to life itself. Likewise, too old to hire and too old to work indicate a perception in American culture that there is a maximum age limit for when a person is considered capable of working and thus worthy of appointing or hiring. A final example is too old to cry which reflects a cultural perception that there is a maximum age at which the act of crying is socially acceptable.
Below are illustrative examples:
(19) "I thought choosing Plan A was a little risky, but I also thought it might be better to get some of the money in my younger years rather than when I'm too old to enjoy it," he said. (COCA 1998 NEW NYTimes)
(20) "I'm in a certain group that's almost too old to hire," says Dalke, who lives in a one bedroom apartment in Golden. "Being over 50 in these times, it's hard to land something." (COCA 2011 NEWS Denver)
11 The current discourse space is defined by Langacker (2001: 144) as "the mental space comprising those elements and relations construed as being shared by the speaker and hearer as a basis for communication at a given moment in the flow of discourse."
(21) "I'll be 16 next spring," he pleaded. Dowd buttoned his sheepskin coat." It'd be best if you stayed here. Just in case word comes in." The walls closed around him like an avalanche. He felt too old to cry, but angry tears glazed his eyes. "That's my dad out there." No one said anything. (COCA 1990 MAG BoysLife)
Note that, as seen in (19)-(21), the degree of OLDNESS that triggers BLOCKAGE of the scenario differs depending on the scenario itself. In (20), we see that the AGE that prevents hireability is fifty, while the AGE that prevents crying, or at least makes it socially undesired, is fifteen or higher.
Table 4: Top 50 V-lexemes coattracted to old
Rank V-lexeme Coll.strength Rank V-lexeme Coll.strength
83 learn 54.4171989490659 3727 pat 7.16647484447686
152 work 34.6534315861253 3728 patrol 7.16647484447686
236 run 25.1595935753305 3729 practise 7.16647484447686
382 want 18.9923466719583 3730 quarrel 7.16647484447686
443 cry 18.4236796760803 3731 reheat 7.16647484447686
494 chase 17.8211178388252 3732 remarry 7.16647484447686
547 become 16.7732421331107 3733 revert 7.16647484447686
664 go 15.9798067870398 3734 slay 7.16647484447686
908 race 14.3365372899232 3735 transplant 7.16647484447686
909 rock 14.3365372899232 3736 trick 7.16647484447686
1418 adopt 12.1739109892923 4021 drive 6.69520919004453
1916 stoop 10.5736579320413 4074 lose 6.58395010465351
1973 benefit 10.3896020702044 4115 climb 6.53481326097242
2493 fall 9.44295759619808 4136 take 6.51548488914309
2495 start 9.44006949106636 4788 continue 5.43717494832891
2673 enjoy 9.09557076431138 4891 keep 5.28105683435573
2742 duck 8.90377406922286 5326 obtain 4.77821581144005
2767 hunt 8.83378139126597 5550 bounce 4.45019421739204
3035 fly 8.2423876884787 5551 braid 4.45019421739204
3121 hire 8.02604968392528 5552 cash 4.45019421739204
3526 change 7.36852114048533 5553 cheat 4.45019421739204
3584 qualify 7.27654857564505 5554 cuddle 4.45019421739204
3724 envy 7.16647484447686 5555 diss 4.45019421739204
3725 insert 7.16647484447686 5556 foster 4.45019421739204
3726 journey 7.16647484447686 5557 leap 4.45019421739204
From this covarying collexeme analysis emerges a complex cultural model of AGE, or perhaps a complex network of cultural models of AGE, in which AGE is a scale, and along that scale are points which serve as limits of possibility of situations such that degrees of AGE beyond this point result in
BLOCKAGE of the situation in question from occurring. We even see how speakers, participants, and characters draw on the model to make sense of other people's behavior and in decision-making,
using the [too ADJ to V]-construction in their verbal argumentations.
Granted, this model, or network of models, has only been partially inferred from our corpus-study, but I would argue that a more detailed study would result in a deeper understanding of cultural models of AGE and force-dynamics, and, combined with methods used in cognitive anthropology, such a corpus-study would provide us with invaluable insights into the perception of
AGE and the constraints it is held to impose upon people within American culture.